384GK Kitchen Faucet Disassemble?

[dschonfeld]

I have a 2018 384GK with the stock single handle kitchen faucet. It currently is experience very low water pressure (guessing it's 25% of the flow rate it used to be). All other faucets, shower heads, toilet etc are good pressure, so I don't believe it's the main camper filter, the pressure regulator I use on the pedestal, or the campground water pressure (this has happened at last 3 campgrounds). I've already cleaned and even removed the small cartridge that is housed under the counter, in the black flexible piping, where it connects to the output of the mixed hot/cold water coming out of the faucet handle. The pressure is equally low for both hot and cold water, so I don't think it's a kinked pipe coming from the Nautilus to the kitchen faucet itself.

My best guess is that it a clog/gunk buildup in the innards of the handle that mixes the hot and cold water inside the faucet. I don't know what else it could be. When I get adventurous, I can disconnect the cold water supply to the faucet, but since it is both hot and cold I'm doubtfui this is the cause and I'd rather not touch it if I don't need to.

So I want to disassemble enough of the faucet to look at that mixing cartridge, or ball, or whatever mechanism it uses. I'm not sure if that's feasible, advisable or how to do it. Most faucets have a set screw to get at this, but I can't find it.

I see that if I use channel locks on the handle itself, it does turn counter clockwise. I didn't fully remove it though. Is this how to get at it?
I did find a small rubber plug behind which is a set screw that accepts a small Allen wrench, but it's not where I thought it would be. It's on the vertical part of the faucet about 3 inches above the counter not where the handle is. Best I can tell is it holds the actual faucet spice part in place.

I searched other threads and I saw a few people suggest it's a Dura brand faucet. I contacted Dura, with pictures, and even though I swear it looks just like one of the models on their website, they told me it's not a Dura and can't help (it does not have a brand name stamped on it, just the SA mark for the standards association).

Any thoughts on what to take apart next?

Please don't just say get a new faucet. I know that's an option, I know it's not terribly difficult, and I know that should definitely fix it. It just feels like there's a simpler solution without wrangling my body into that tiny space underneath to undo the whole thing and put a new one in.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

You don't show a picture, but on our single faucet model, the set screw to disassemble was under the hot/cold lever, you had to unscrew the lever and remove it. The set screw was there.

 

[dschonfeld]

You don't show a picture, but on our single faucet model, the set screw to disassemble was under the hot/cold lever, you had to unscrew the lever and remove it. The set screw was there.

Just to clarify to make sure I understand, you are saying once I unscrew the lever itself (the approximately 1-2 inch long part you put your fingers on to make it hotter or colder), I'll see a set screw revealed underneath where the lever threaded onto the main handle? That would be the right area for a set screw - I just didn't unscrew the lever all the way as I wasn't sure it was meant to be unscrewed.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Just to clarify to make sure I understand, you are saying once I unscrew the level itself, I'll see a set screw revealed underneath where the level threaded onto the main handle? That would be the right area for a set screw - I just didn't unscrew the lever all the way as I wasn't sure it was meant to be unscrewed.

That's the way ours came apart, the handle/lever just unscrews from the housing. I had to use a pair of channel locks to get ours loose. And I never did find why I had no flow, and I took that thing completely apart, and put it back together, with no joy. I ended up replacing it with one from Lowe's.

 

[dschonfeld]

That's the way ours came apart, the handle/lever just unscrews from the housing. I had to use a pair of channel locks to get ours loose. And I never did find why I had no flow, and I took that thing completely apart, and put it back together, with no joy. I ended up replacing it with one from Lowe's.

That's very VERY helpful, thanks for confirming. I'm paranoid about not being able to put it together once I take it apart. If I can't solve the mystery, so be it, but I dont want to end up without a kitchen faucet until I get a new one. Was it easy to get it back together at least no worse than when you started? I've taken apart many faucets and never had an issue, but seems like everything is going wrong lately and I'm overly paranoid so I'm looking for some validation that I won't make it worse than it is or zero flow.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Yeah, it wasn't difficult to get it back together, but it still wouldn't work. I was completely bumfuzzled. I took the sprayer apart and everything. I had flow up to the control, but somewhere it stopped.

I hope you have better luck than I.

 

[dschonfeld]

Yeah, it wasn't difficult to get it back together, but it still wouldn't work. I was completely bumfuzzled. I took the sprayer apart and everything. I had flow up to the control, but somewhere it stopped.

I hope you have better luck than I.

Gotcha. Sadly I suspect I'll end up in the same position but I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the fast and informative responses, really appreciate it. I'll post something when I try it. Thanks again.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Cool, yeah, I'd be interested to hear how it goes.

 

[dschonfeld]

The answer:

So as I was obsessing over it last night, I thought to myself what did I actually remove that was inline in that black flexible tube under the counter? I remembered that I kept the part, and it was the back flow preventer which had failed. Looking at it, I realized that it must sit inside something, so I decided to remove the black flexible hose again. Lo and behold, there was a black rubber washer inside, which was very gummed up with brown muck. Once I carefully cleaned it, blew some air through the black hose, and reattached everything, flow resumed. So I didn't end up removing the hot/cold mixing components, but next time I may as I bet there's junk in there too.

While wrestling with the hex nut to remove it, I apparently pushed down on the drain pipe the tail pipe emanating from the sink drain popped out of the trap assembly. This had happened before (with a very messy result), and I realized even with the nut fully tightened, that tailpipe easily slid out. Some googling taught me there should be a beveled compression washer to hold it in place, but alas, there was none! I found it shoved down into the trap. Pulled it out, cleaned it, put it on the right way, and lo and behold, the tailpipe now sits firmly in place. I think this may have been an issue for six years and just solved it because my flashlight holding hand pushed down on the drain pipe while messing with the faucet.

I'll count that as two wins, which is my record in RV repairs.

Thanks again for your help and giving me confidence to attack it.

Dan

 

[Yonder]

My kitchen faucet failed, too. The original leaked like a sieve so rather than jury rig something, I cut the faucet off just below the PEX connector. I then put in a Shark Bite PEX to 3/8ths compression fitting, crimped it on and now I can use any commercial faucet out there. About a 30 minute job.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

My kitchen faucet failed, too. The original leaked like a sieve so rather than jury rig something, I cut the faucet off just below the PEX connector. I then put in a Shark Bite PEX to 3/8ths compression fitting, crimped it on and now I can use any commercial faucet out there. About a 30 minute job.

I didn't do any of that, and had no issues hooking up a commercial faucet when ours quit.

 

[IBEW Sparky]

The answer:

So as I was obsessing over it last night, I thought to myself what did I actually remove that was inline in that black flexible tube under the counter? I remembered that I kept the part, and it was the back flow preventer which had failed. Looking at it, I realized that it must sit inside something, so I decided to remove the black flexible hose again. Lo and behold, there was a black rubber washer inside, which was very gummed up with brown muck. Once I carefully cleaned it, blew some air through the black hose, and reattached everything, flow resumed. So I didn't end up removing the hot/cold mixing components, but next time I may as I bet there's junk in there too.

While wrestling with the hex nut to remove it, I apparently pushed down on the drain pipe the tail pipe emanating from the sink drain popped out of the trap assembly. This had happened before (with a very messy result), and I realized even with the nut fully tightened, that tailpipe easily slid out. Some googling taught me there should be a beveled compression washer to hold it in place, but alas, there was none! I found it shoved down into the trap. Pulled it out, cleaned it, put it on the right way, and lo and behold, the tailpipe now sits firmly in place. I think this may have been an issue for six years and just solved it because my flashlight holding hand pushed down on the drain pipe while messing with the faucet.

I'll count that as two wins, which is my record in RV repairs.

Thanks again for your help and giving me confidence to attack it.

Dan

Can you post any pictures of what you took apart? I'm having flow issues with the kitchen faucet.

 

[WhittleBurner]

The answer:
. Lo and behold, there was a black rubber washer inside, which was very gummed up with brown muck

My first reaction was ewwwww. Brown muck does not sound good. Someplace you camped had really bad water quality. Do you use external filters? If not I'd recommend it.

 

[dschonfeld]

My first reaction was ewwwww. Brown muck does not sound good. Someplace you camped had really bad water quality. Do you use external filters? If not I'd recommend it.

It wasn’t pretty for sure. I agree with you, we prob had some bad quality water somewhere. We have a full camper built in filter in the nautilus compartment and then we use our brita for our drinking and cooking water. We are overdue for the bleach treatment, plan to do it again soon.

It’s been 2+ weeks since the procedure and sink is still working well.